There will be magic, chapter 60, RukixKai, RukaxYomi, AoixReita, UruhaxAsa
Title: There will be magic
Author: yukigafuru
Chapters: 60/?
Pairings: RukaxYomi, KaixRuki, AoixReita, UruhaxAsagi for now
Bands: Gazette, Naitomea, D... (and a surprise)
Rating: PG-15-PG-17 overall
Warnings: will be angst, yaoi, a bit of gore here and there, light mpreg
Genre: AU, Angst, Romance
Disclaimer: I am not connected to the real persons. This is just a figment of my imagination and I don't make any money nor profit in any way out of this (well, except gathering your love that is).
Summary: The age of magic and mystery is coming towards its end. But what if someone that has the gift to see the future can join forces with others who have the power to stop it? What will be born then? What will be found?
Chapter 60
Catherine quickly ushered Yomi out of the room and then out of the inn. It was close to dawn and the moon had turned a pasty translucent white. Catherine led Yomi westward.
“Where are we going?” He dared ask.
“A river. It’s not too far from here. We need pure water for the cleansing and although I’m sure the mishepishu could have helped with that, I favour the night’s crisp air and the soft glow of the moon.”
“Are you happy with me becoming Ruka’s mate?” Yomi asked so suddenly that Catherine stopped for a brief moment, frozen in place, before gathering her wits and continuing their stroll.
“My brother loves you, so much. He would have defied me for you, earlier. That tells me more than I need to know.”
“How so?” Yomi pried further.
“Our father left us while we were still young. Our mother took over the reign and Ruka was left with me. He used to depend on me for everything and I cuddled him a fair amount. He grew up into a fine, independent vampire but he still asked for my advice whenever faced with an important decision and he never once stood against me.”
“But he would have done it for me.” Yomi declared.
“I think he loves you enough that he would even kill for you. Even me.”
“No, he’s not...” Yomi started abut was quickly interrupted.
“I know he’s not like that, but there is no doubt in my mind that if he had to choose between me or you, he wouldn’t hesitate... Don’t get me wrong. I completely understand that. It’s what makes me agree to this bonding wholeheartedly.”
“You wouldn’t have, otherwise?”
“You have no family, Yomi, no rank, no fortune and no standing in our world. Vampires are not forgiving, malleable creatures. We’re traditionalist and proud, ruthless and demanding. And Ruka is royal blood; that blood should be kept pure, passed down to future generations. Ruka is going to have to fight for you once you get back. A lot of influential vampires will oppose him, even though you’re bonded.” Seeing the negative impression her speech had on Yomi, Catherine continued. “But I love the idea of you being there for him. You complete each other perfectly and I’m sure that Ruka couldn’t have been truly happy with someone else. And I love my brother, Yomi, so I want to see him happy. It’s as simple as that. I’ll stick by your side, no matter what.”
Yomi gulped and restrained his sadness. He had always known he was beneath Ruka but he had never cared and even now, when told so in the face, he still wouldn’t ruin this day with doubts. He was stronger than that. Their love was stronger than that. And no matter the reasons, he liked Catherine and was glad to have her on his side.
“The river should be up ahead.” Catherine urged and they quickened their steps. A few hundred metres later, they stood in front of a small river, slightly larger than a creek, that came down from the mountains they had crossed before and most certainly spilled itself into a neighbouring bigger river that in its turn, spilled into the ocean.
On the bank, small yellow flowers shined with the morning’s gathering dew and green grass grew lusciously, conquering every millimetre of barren land, the delicate grass leaves bowing down towards the pure water. The fine chains of silvery light pierced through the clear water and turned to silver the small rocks lying on the bottom. Here and there, a small fish would navigate through the curtains of silver like the nimble fingers of a lover untangling the silken braids of his heart’s desire.
The creek was too small to be the village’s water supply, so it had managed to remain pure and untouched, only occasionally visited by the village’s small children playing in the fields or the forest’s animals that had ventured too far out of the protection of the centenary trees.
“Remove your clothes and then sit down on the bank. Don’t touch the water yet.” Catherine instructed. Yomi blushed a bright red and caused the vampire to giggle warmly. “Don’t be too embarrassed. You’re about to become my younger brother too and I’ve seen Ruka naked tons of times before.”
The blush would not recede from Yomi’s cheeks but he did acquiesce to her instructions and quickly shed his clothes, then sat down on the bank with lightning speed, making sure she couldn’t assess his private parts for a too long period of time.
“You are beautiful. You have nothing to be ashamed of.” Her comment only made his blush travel downwards, covering his neck and shoulders. She laughed openly. “I do wonder up till where that blush could spread. But enough with the teasing.” She took out the diamond from her midnight robe and then allowed it to fall in the calm waters. The big red jewel fell down to the very bottom. “Now you can go in.” She instructed and Yomi did as told. He let his feet get accustomed to the coldness of the water and then slowly edged in his thighs, sitting down on the bottom of the river, the water reaching to his waist and the diamond unperturbed by his movements.
“Now pour water from the river over your body, and pay special attention to the neck.” Yomi did as told and splashed water over his torso, then poured the water gathered in the cup of his palms over his head and neck. He repeated the movements over and over till he was drenching wet and positively shivering from the cold. “Now drink this.” Catherine said and her voice had faded into the stillness of the night, like a cave’s echo reaching the wonderer miles and miles away. Her naked wrist, red blood flowing downwards and staining the water for the smallest amount of time before dissolving into the translucent waters, caused Yomi to jump backwards and lose his equilibrium momentarily. “When bonding with Ruka, you also bond with the clan, the race. You take within you our blood. This stands as proof of that.” Yomi carefully brought his lips to the offered wrist and drank a couple of mouthfuls before Catherine pulled her hand away. It tasted foreign on his tongue, sweet yet with a hint of spice; he could stomach it but it had no appeal for him. Watching carefully his reactions, she said: “Ruka’s is going to taste like nectar.” Yomi could definitely believe her on that. “One last thing left to do. Grab the diamond and then pull it out of the water and present it back to me.”
As instructed, Yomi put his hand over the diamond but had to pull his hand back just as quick, for the diamond burned hotter than embers, with a heat that sent needles of pain up his arm, invading his blood and then attacking the rest of his body. He felt faint from just that small initial contact and yet he had to continue. This time knowing what to expect and clenching his teeth tightly, Yomi made for the diamond again and this time, keeping his screams of pain, managed to remove it from the waters and pass it back to Catherine. She hid it quickly inside her robe.
“You can get dressed now.” She said and turned her back to give him the privacy he wanted.
Later, when they were heading back towards the inn, Yomi inquired about the heat.
“Why did it burn?”
“The blood diamond tests as well as gifts you. The pain you received is the symbol of the challenges that face you and your mate further on. The stronger the heat, the more difficult and painful the challenges. But if you manage to withstand the needles of fire sent down your blood, you will stand by your mate’s side whatever comes in the future. The blood diamond chooses you for no one that has failed the test has been able to bond with a vampire.”
“Even vampires fail it?”
“Yes. There have been other cases where vampires bonded with other races also. No matter the race, in the end, the mate has to pass the blood diamond’s challenge.”
“What would have happened then if we hadn’t bonded using the blood diamond?” At his questions, she turned her dark eyes towards him and there was no mistaking the seriousness on her features.
“Your bond wouldn’t have been accepted. Ruka would have been stripped of his birthright and both of you wouldn’t have been allowed in vampiric society. With the proper diamond, you would have gained immortality and been able to stand by Ruka’s side, but at the price of him losing his inheritance.”
“I had no idea.” Yomi mumbled.
“Ruka would have made that sacrifice for you. Because he would have faced the greater risk of losing you otherwise, if what you tell me of your premonitions is true. It’s why I’ll be forever grateful to Uruha for getting me here on time. I would have hated to cut ties with my baby brother.”
“You would have done that?” Yomi wondered.
“Like I said, vampires are harsh and proud, Yomi.”
Yomi couldn’t understand it, couldn’t see how someone could cut off a loved one because of old traditions and mentalities, and neither could he understand the pain that the one exiled would have felt. He had lost his family and he carried that pain everyday, edged deep within his heart. And it hadn’t been a situation of his own making. He wondered whether they could have been happy just on their own, and he remembered Catherine’s earlier words: sometimes not even love was enough.
“You can take advantage of our little walk and ask me whatever you want, you know? Like all the pranks I pulled on Ruka when he was a kid.” Catherine suggested and Yomi was glad for the change of subject. But instead, he took advantage to ask her the one question he hadn’t dared to ask Ruka earlier.
“How are vampires born?”
“Well, lower vampires would turn someone, a human most often. Only the purest lines can give birth and a vampire baby is just like other human children until he reaches a certain maturity edge when the vampire genes attack his blood, like a disease if you will. But births are extremely rare and only occur when we are under threat of extinction. It’s like our blood knows. It might also be because vampires become more human-like once we age. It’s usually the oldest vampires that give birth.
It’s also because of this special trait that births in the royal family occur more often: the royal line is not allowed to die and at any moment in time, there must be at least two heirs to the throne.” She explained. “Why do you ask?” She asked him. “Are you envious of Reita?”
She had hit the nail on the head, of course.
“No, we’re not even bonded. It’s just that it’s nice to have a family...” He trailed off.
Catherine didn’t press the issue and soon enough they stood in the inn’s entrance, the feeble rays of the morning sun dissipating the blackness of the night. Ruka and the others were already waiting inside.
Everything seemed to fly by Yomi next. One minute he had his arms filled with a loving mate, the next he had them filled with the smoothest, most beautiful material he had ever imagined, and the next thing he knew, he was being whisked away towards the bonding venue.
The skies were tinted a crimson colour when Yomi walked, in a trance-like state, the flower-paved road leading to the altar. For it was a huge altar that Ruka, the roc and the dragon had constructed. It stood at the edge of the forest, the ever-green branches of scented pines framing the white marble construction. It was a two metre high circular shape, broken only by the massive trunk of a cedar to the North and by the two-person wide entrance to the South.
Decorating the walls were scenes that Yomi recognized instantly and made his heart clench in happiness: the two of them laughing amount the pegasus, Yomi surrounded by animals in the forest clearing, Ruka gathering Yomi to his chest after the beast attack in the forest and many other memories they had made during this trip, moments that marked the growth of their affections for one another.
Yomi and Catherine had stayed behind the rest of the `guests` and by the time Yomi passed through the Southern entrance, Ruka was already waiting for him under the cedar’s branches. Their attires could not have been more different.
Ruka was only dressed in black trousers and a knee-long cape, made of a black, silky material, adorned and kept together by one single silver clasp on his right shoulder. The soft wind lifted the edges of the cape, occasionally exposing Ruka’s arm and torso to the morning sun’s mellow rays.
Yomi was clad in a white toga, draped over his shoulder, falling to his legs and lightly trailing behind him. The wika material flowed from drape to drape, reflecting the morning light in bright flashes of blues, greens and reds and for all the folds the material made, the wika clung to Yomi’s body like a second skin, revealing the curve of his waist, the strength of his thighs and the delicacy of his neck. Where Ruka was a demon, Yomi was an angel and they were perfectly made for one another.
As soon as Yomi stood beside his lover, Ruka wrapped his strong arms around Yomi’s waist and gathered him in his embrace. The cape and the toga fluttered around them like butterfly wings before settling down.
Yomi felt uncharacteristically shy and looked down at the floor to realize that it was covered in the softest feathers he had ever touched and their bright colours alerted him to the fact that they had been a gift from the roc. He lifted his eyes and gazed at the happy faces of all his friends gathered around them. All the couples had their hands clasped and were sending them supportive looks and even Ni~ya had decided to take part at the ceremony, supported on either side by the dragon and the seer.
Catherine stood in the middle of the circle and presented the blood diamond to the skies. The red of the gem multiplied on the surface of the altar, making the atmosphere around them glow red. Catherine’s voice pierced the silence and her words rose higher and higher, towards the skies, a prayer to the gods. Yomi could not understand the words of the ritual for they were intoned in an old language he had never heard before, but their deep resonance carried over him and surpassing meaning, wrapped his heart in strong tendrils of promise, fate and hope. When Catherine had finished speaking, Ruka whispered his vows in Yomi’s ear and it took all of the kitsune’s strength not to instantly start crying from happiness.
“My blood has burned since the first moment I saw you and my heart has sung in a chaotic rhythm since the first time you put your lips on mine. I tasted your lips, your skin and your blood and wanted more. I will forever want more. I will never stop demanding and in return I can only offer myself, all that I am. Take from me and be reborn.”
Yomi barely felt the sharp pain Ruka’s canines sinking into his neck brought for it was eclipsed by a rush of passion and want so intense it erased all consciousness from his mind. Consciousness and with it, reality, only reappeared when Yomi gulped down the first mouthful of Ruka’s blood and it felt like a drowning man resurfacing from frozen waters and gulping his first breath of fresh air: deep, hot, sour-sweet, life-giving and addictive, just like Ruka was.
Separating from Ruka’s neck only made the kitsune want to taste him again and if not for the heat of their entwined hands and bodies, urging him down a different path, he would have drank until all his blood had been replaced with the vampire’s. Ruka’s dark eyes gazed lovingly down at him and his lips sealed his in the briefest kiss they had shared together. Catherine approaching them felt like a dream. Yomi barely registered the fact that except for her everyone had already left.
“Share in each other and become one.” She blessed them and touched their forearms. The moment her palm made contact, Yomi felt the bond settling. Somewhere deep inside he could feel Ruka, the centuries that weighed on the vampire and the hope that would support him for centuries to come. As for Ruka, somewhere deep inside him he felt his lover’s connection to nature, his wild, untamed magic and the beauty of his soul.
Moments later, they were finally left alone.
Yomi unclasped Ruka’s cape and allowed it to fall to the ground, his hands reaching out towards the smooth, porcelain skin revealed and reverently tracing feverish paths down Ruka’s skin. The vampire too started unwrapping his present, the folds of the toga untangling one by one until the long material had fallen at their feet and Yomi’s breathtaking beauty was only Ruka’s to admire.
Ruka’s cold hands left goosebumps all over Yomi’s skin and his feathery kisses sparkled a fire deep within, a fire the kitsune had never felt before. It felt as if he was melting in the other’s arms and Ruka was both his destroyer and his creator for with every breath stolen he restored a heartbeat. They had both fallen to the soft feathered ground and hands feverishly explored while mouths kissed and bit, first soft lips, then delicate necks, strong collarbones and sculpted stomachs, trailing lower and lower, till neither of them knew where one ended and the other began anymore.
Ruka bit Yomi, tasting yet again the sweetest drug known to a vampire, all the time being spurred on by Yomi’s moans and pleas. Time advanced with painstaking slowness while he took his time to prepare his lover: first a finger, then two, careful slow stretching movements and then the final trinity, hitting something deep inside the kistune that made him arch into his arms like a strained bow, his sweet blood hotter and hotter inside Ruka’s veins. And then, Ruka was sheathed deep inside Yomi and this time Yomi was draining him, sucking his life force in more ways then one. It was beautiful and magic and oh so right that Ruka couldn’t restrain Yomi’s name tearing itself from his lips the moment they both fell off the pleasure cliff together.
The sun shone warmly on the two lovers sleeping peacefully, wrapped up in each other.
A/N: A specially long fluffy chapter, present for New Year's. Happy New Year, my lovelies and you know that your comments and love are the best present you could give me. Squishes
Author: yukigafuru
Chapters: 60/?
Pairings: RukaxYomi, KaixRuki, AoixReita, UruhaxAsagi for now
Bands: Gazette, Naitomea, D... (and a surprise)
Rating: PG-15-PG-17 overall
Warnings: will be angst, yaoi, a bit of gore here and there, light mpreg
Genre: AU, Angst, Romance
Disclaimer: I am not connected to the real persons. This is just a figment of my imagination and I don't make any money nor profit in any way out of this (well, except gathering your love that is).
Summary: The age of magic and mystery is coming towards its end. But what if someone that has the gift to see the future can join forces with others who have the power to stop it? What will be born then? What will be found?
Chapter 60
Catherine quickly ushered Yomi out of the room and then out of the inn. It was close to dawn and the moon had turned a pasty translucent white. Catherine led Yomi westward.
“Where are we going?” He dared ask.
“A river. It’s not too far from here. We need pure water for the cleansing and although I’m sure the mishepishu could have helped with that, I favour the night’s crisp air and the soft glow of the moon.”
“Are you happy with me becoming Ruka’s mate?” Yomi asked so suddenly that Catherine stopped for a brief moment, frozen in place, before gathering her wits and continuing their stroll.
“My brother loves you, so much. He would have defied me for you, earlier. That tells me more than I need to know.”
“How so?” Yomi pried further.
“Our father left us while we were still young. Our mother took over the reign and Ruka was left with me. He used to depend on me for everything and I cuddled him a fair amount. He grew up into a fine, independent vampire but he still asked for my advice whenever faced with an important decision and he never once stood against me.”
“But he would have done it for me.” Yomi declared.
“I think he loves you enough that he would even kill for you. Even me.”
“No, he’s not...” Yomi started abut was quickly interrupted.
“I know he’s not like that, but there is no doubt in my mind that if he had to choose between me or you, he wouldn’t hesitate... Don’t get me wrong. I completely understand that. It’s what makes me agree to this bonding wholeheartedly.”
“You wouldn’t have, otherwise?”
“You have no family, Yomi, no rank, no fortune and no standing in our world. Vampires are not forgiving, malleable creatures. We’re traditionalist and proud, ruthless and demanding. And Ruka is royal blood; that blood should be kept pure, passed down to future generations. Ruka is going to have to fight for you once you get back. A lot of influential vampires will oppose him, even though you’re bonded.” Seeing the negative impression her speech had on Yomi, Catherine continued. “But I love the idea of you being there for him. You complete each other perfectly and I’m sure that Ruka couldn’t have been truly happy with someone else. And I love my brother, Yomi, so I want to see him happy. It’s as simple as that. I’ll stick by your side, no matter what.”
Yomi gulped and restrained his sadness. He had always known he was beneath Ruka but he had never cared and even now, when told so in the face, he still wouldn’t ruin this day with doubts. He was stronger than that. Their love was stronger than that. And no matter the reasons, he liked Catherine and was glad to have her on his side.
“The river should be up ahead.” Catherine urged and they quickened their steps. A few hundred metres later, they stood in front of a small river, slightly larger than a creek, that came down from the mountains they had crossed before and most certainly spilled itself into a neighbouring bigger river that in its turn, spilled into the ocean.
On the bank, small yellow flowers shined with the morning’s gathering dew and green grass grew lusciously, conquering every millimetre of barren land, the delicate grass leaves bowing down towards the pure water. The fine chains of silvery light pierced through the clear water and turned to silver the small rocks lying on the bottom. Here and there, a small fish would navigate through the curtains of silver like the nimble fingers of a lover untangling the silken braids of his heart’s desire.
The creek was too small to be the village’s water supply, so it had managed to remain pure and untouched, only occasionally visited by the village’s small children playing in the fields or the forest’s animals that had ventured too far out of the protection of the centenary trees.
“Remove your clothes and then sit down on the bank. Don’t touch the water yet.” Catherine instructed. Yomi blushed a bright red and caused the vampire to giggle warmly. “Don’t be too embarrassed. You’re about to become my younger brother too and I’ve seen Ruka naked tons of times before.”
The blush would not recede from Yomi’s cheeks but he did acquiesce to her instructions and quickly shed his clothes, then sat down on the bank with lightning speed, making sure she couldn’t assess his private parts for a too long period of time.
“You are beautiful. You have nothing to be ashamed of.” Her comment only made his blush travel downwards, covering his neck and shoulders. She laughed openly. “I do wonder up till where that blush could spread. But enough with the teasing.” She took out the diamond from her midnight robe and then allowed it to fall in the calm waters. The big red jewel fell down to the very bottom. “Now you can go in.” She instructed and Yomi did as told. He let his feet get accustomed to the coldness of the water and then slowly edged in his thighs, sitting down on the bottom of the river, the water reaching to his waist and the diamond unperturbed by his movements.
“Now pour water from the river over your body, and pay special attention to the neck.” Yomi did as told and splashed water over his torso, then poured the water gathered in the cup of his palms over his head and neck. He repeated the movements over and over till he was drenching wet and positively shivering from the cold. “Now drink this.” Catherine said and her voice had faded into the stillness of the night, like a cave’s echo reaching the wonderer miles and miles away. Her naked wrist, red blood flowing downwards and staining the water for the smallest amount of time before dissolving into the translucent waters, caused Yomi to jump backwards and lose his equilibrium momentarily. “When bonding with Ruka, you also bond with the clan, the race. You take within you our blood. This stands as proof of that.” Yomi carefully brought his lips to the offered wrist and drank a couple of mouthfuls before Catherine pulled her hand away. It tasted foreign on his tongue, sweet yet with a hint of spice; he could stomach it but it had no appeal for him. Watching carefully his reactions, she said: “Ruka’s is going to taste like nectar.” Yomi could definitely believe her on that. “One last thing left to do. Grab the diamond and then pull it out of the water and present it back to me.”
As instructed, Yomi put his hand over the diamond but had to pull his hand back just as quick, for the diamond burned hotter than embers, with a heat that sent needles of pain up his arm, invading his blood and then attacking the rest of his body. He felt faint from just that small initial contact and yet he had to continue. This time knowing what to expect and clenching his teeth tightly, Yomi made for the diamond again and this time, keeping his screams of pain, managed to remove it from the waters and pass it back to Catherine. She hid it quickly inside her robe.
“You can get dressed now.” She said and turned her back to give him the privacy he wanted.
Later, when they were heading back towards the inn, Yomi inquired about the heat.
“Why did it burn?”
“The blood diamond tests as well as gifts you. The pain you received is the symbol of the challenges that face you and your mate further on. The stronger the heat, the more difficult and painful the challenges. But if you manage to withstand the needles of fire sent down your blood, you will stand by your mate’s side whatever comes in the future. The blood diamond chooses you for no one that has failed the test has been able to bond with a vampire.”
“Even vampires fail it?”
“Yes. There have been other cases where vampires bonded with other races also. No matter the race, in the end, the mate has to pass the blood diamond’s challenge.”
“What would have happened then if we hadn’t bonded using the blood diamond?” At his questions, she turned her dark eyes towards him and there was no mistaking the seriousness on her features.
“Your bond wouldn’t have been accepted. Ruka would have been stripped of his birthright and both of you wouldn’t have been allowed in vampiric society. With the proper diamond, you would have gained immortality and been able to stand by Ruka’s side, but at the price of him losing his inheritance.”
“I had no idea.” Yomi mumbled.
“Ruka would have made that sacrifice for you. Because he would have faced the greater risk of losing you otherwise, if what you tell me of your premonitions is true. It’s why I’ll be forever grateful to Uruha for getting me here on time. I would have hated to cut ties with my baby brother.”
“You would have done that?” Yomi wondered.
“Like I said, vampires are harsh and proud, Yomi.”
Yomi couldn’t understand it, couldn’t see how someone could cut off a loved one because of old traditions and mentalities, and neither could he understand the pain that the one exiled would have felt. He had lost his family and he carried that pain everyday, edged deep within his heart. And it hadn’t been a situation of his own making. He wondered whether they could have been happy just on their own, and he remembered Catherine’s earlier words: sometimes not even love was enough.
“You can take advantage of our little walk and ask me whatever you want, you know? Like all the pranks I pulled on Ruka when he was a kid.” Catherine suggested and Yomi was glad for the change of subject. But instead, he took advantage to ask her the one question he hadn’t dared to ask Ruka earlier.
“How are vampires born?”
“Well, lower vampires would turn someone, a human most often. Only the purest lines can give birth and a vampire baby is just like other human children until he reaches a certain maturity edge when the vampire genes attack his blood, like a disease if you will. But births are extremely rare and only occur when we are under threat of extinction. It’s like our blood knows. It might also be because vampires become more human-like once we age. It’s usually the oldest vampires that give birth.
It’s also because of this special trait that births in the royal family occur more often: the royal line is not allowed to die and at any moment in time, there must be at least two heirs to the throne.” She explained. “Why do you ask?” She asked him. “Are you envious of Reita?”
She had hit the nail on the head, of course.
“No, we’re not even bonded. It’s just that it’s nice to have a family...” He trailed off.
Catherine didn’t press the issue and soon enough they stood in the inn’s entrance, the feeble rays of the morning sun dissipating the blackness of the night. Ruka and the others were already waiting inside.
Everything seemed to fly by Yomi next. One minute he had his arms filled with a loving mate, the next he had them filled with the smoothest, most beautiful material he had ever imagined, and the next thing he knew, he was being whisked away towards the bonding venue.
The skies were tinted a crimson colour when Yomi walked, in a trance-like state, the flower-paved road leading to the altar. For it was a huge altar that Ruka, the roc and the dragon had constructed. It stood at the edge of the forest, the ever-green branches of scented pines framing the white marble construction. It was a two metre high circular shape, broken only by the massive trunk of a cedar to the North and by the two-person wide entrance to the South.
Decorating the walls were scenes that Yomi recognized instantly and made his heart clench in happiness: the two of them laughing amount the pegasus, Yomi surrounded by animals in the forest clearing, Ruka gathering Yomi to his chest after the beast attack in the forest and many other memories they had made during this trip, moments that marked the growth of their affections for one another.
Yomi and Catherine had stayed behind the rest of the `guests` and by the time Yomi passed through the Southern entrance, Ruka was already waiting for him under the cedar’s branches. Their attires could not have been more different.
Ruka was only dressed in black trousers and a knee-long cape, made of a black, silky material, adorned and kept together by one single silver clasp on his right shoulder. The soft wind lifted the edges of the cape, occasionally exposing Ruka’s arm and torso to the morning sun’s mellow rays.
Yomi was clad in a white toga, draped over his shoulder, falling to his legs and lightly trailing behind him. The wika material flowed from drape to drape, reflecting the morning light in bright flashes of blues, greens and reds and for all the folds the material made, the wika clung to Yomi’s body like a second skin, revealing the curve of his waist, the strength of his thighs and the delicacy of his neck. Where Ruka was a demon, Yomi was an angel and they were perfectly made for one another.
As soon as Yomi stood beside his lover, Ruka wrapped his strong arms around Yomi’s waist and gathered him in his embrace. The cape and the toga fluttered around them like butterfly wings before settling down.
Yomi felt uncharacteristically shy and looked down at the floor to realize that it was covered in the softest feathers he had ever touched and their bright colours alerted him to the fact that they had been a gift from the roc. He lifted his eyes and gazed at the happy faces of all his friends gathered around them. All the couples had their hands clasped and were sending them supportive looks and even Ni~ya had decided to take part at the ceremony, supported on either side by the dragon and the seer.
Catherine stood in the middle of the circle and presented the blood diamond to the skies. The red of the gem multiplied on the surface of the altar, making the atmosphere around them glow red. Catherine’s voice pierced the silence and her words rose higher and higher, towards the skies, a prayer to the gods. Yomi could not understand the words of the ritual for they were intoned in an old language he had never heard before, but their deep resonance carried over him and surpassing meaning, wrapped his heart in strong tendrils of promise, fate and hope. When Catherine had finished speaking, Ruka whispered his vows in Yomi’s ear and it took all of the kitsune’s strength not to instantly start crying from happiness.
“My blood has burned since the first moment I saw you and my heart has sung in a chaotic rhythm since the first time you put your lips on mine. I tasted your lips, your skin and your blood and wanted more. I will forever want more. I will never stop demanding and in return I can only offer myself, all that I am. Take from me and be reborn.”
Yomi barely felt the sharp pain Ruka’s canines sinking into his neck brought for it was eclipsed by a rush of passion and want so intense it erased all consciousness from his mind. Consciousness and with it, reality, only reappeared when Yomi gulped down the first mouthful of Ruka’s blood and it felt like a drowning man resurfacing from frozen waters and gulping his first breath of fresh air: deep, hot, sour-sweet, life-giving and addictive, just like Ruka was.
Separating from Ruka’s neck only made the kitsune want to taste him again and if not for the heat of their entwined hands and bodies, urging him down a different path, he would have drank until all his blood had been replaced with the vampire’s. Ruka’s dark eyes gazed lovingly down at him and his lips sealed his in the briefest kiss they had shared together. Catherine approaching them felt like a dream. Yomi barely registered the fact that except for her everyone had already left.
“Share in each other and become one.” She blessed them and touched their forearms. The moment her palm made contact, Yomi felt the bond settling. Somewhere deep inside he could feel Ruka, the centuries that weighed on the vampire and the hope that would support him for centuries to come. As for Ruka, somewhere deep inside him he felt his lover’s connection to nature, his wild, untamed magic and the beauty of his soul.
Moments later, they were finally left alone.
Yomi unclasped Ruka’s cape and allowed it to fall to the ground, his hands reaching out towards the smooth, porcelain skin revealed and reverently tracing feverish paths down Ruka’s skin. The vampire too started unwrapping his present, the folds of the toga untangling one by one until the long material had fallen at their feet and Yomi’s breathtaking beauty was only Ruka’s to admire.
Ruka’s cold hands left goosebumps all over Yomi’s skin and his feathery kisses sparkled a fire deep within, a fire the kitsune had never felt before. It felt as if he was melting in the other’s arms and Ruka was both his destroyer and his creator for with every breath stolen he restored a heartbeat. They had both fallen to the soft feathered ground and hands feverishly explored while mouths kissed and bit, first soft lips, then delicate necks, strong collarbones and sculpted stomachs, trailing lower and lower, till neither of them knew where one ended and the other began anymore.
Ruka bit Yomi, tasting yet again the sweetest drug known to a vampire, all the time being spurred on by Yomi’s moans and pleas. Time advanced with painstaking slowness while he took his time to prepare his lover: first a finger, then two, careful slow stretching movements and then the final trinity, hitting something deep inside the kistune that made him arch into his arms like a strained bow, his sweet blood hotter and hotter inside Ruka’s veins. And then, Ruka was sheathed deep inside Yomi and this time Yomi was draining him, sucking his life force in more ways then one. It was beautiful and magic and oh so right that Ruka couldn’t restrain Yomi’s name tearing itself from his lips the moment they both fell off the pleasure cliff together.
The sun shone warmly on the two lovers sleeping peacefully, wrapped up in each other.
A/N: A specially long fluffy chapter, present for New Year's. Happy New Year, my lovelies and you know that your comments and love are the best present you could give me. Squishes